The soaga Afolabi

Tag: identity

The other afternoon I was all by myself in my big little world and in front of me was this huge audience comprising people of all age, race, class and sizes. This is what I said to them.

There are certain things I want you all to know today. Very important things I should add. People go all around not knowing who they are or what they are worth. And so they end up living life as it is rather than how it ought to be. They play with the cards they are dealt without knowing that they could be served better ones. They settle for less when they could be having much more.

Today is correction day! If you fall into this category of people, do not be dismayed b’cos that is changing today. If you’ve ever felt bad about yourself or felt like life is not worth it or that you are not worth it. If you’ve ever felt like throwing in the towel, giving up or thought death to be better than life….then this is for you.

Let me show you who you are.

You are not a biological mistake or the worthless product of a failed abortion. You are not a mere offspring of a rape incident, one night stand, or someone’s uncontrolled lust and passion. You are way more than that.

You are created by a God of love. You are his investment in this world. A gift from him to mankind. You are a masterpiece. Carefully and thoughtfully put together. Another wonder of the world. And you are loved by him and priced far above iphones, Ferraris, private jets, and exotic vacations.

You are not just God’s investment, God also invested in you- talents, abilities, gifts, beauty, life, a mind with imagination, a spirit with resilience, a smile that inspires hope in you and others. He also invested in you people and quality relationships, and very importantly Dreams! You are a man/woman loaded and filled with substance. You have worth and value beyond what you can ever imagine. More still, you have all it takes to be all God has made you to be.

You are not just 1 of the 7 billion people in the world; you are 1 in 7 billion- Special, divine, unique and one-of-a-kind.

But I hear you say ‘I’m not fabulous’; I’m not fantastic and do not have greatness in me. Note this….we are not who we are, who we are, we ought to become. Man was not made a finality but rather a possibility. You can decide to be better than your present state……you can best your life!

That same creator that formed you also created the sun in all its efficiency, the stars in all their beauty, the moon in its tranquil, the ocean in its massiveness, the fishes and the birds and the entire universe and all its simple complexities. And so just like them, you are efficient, beautiful, and yes you are a BIG DEAL.

Hear this….

He also made the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and the whole of time. He is creator of time and seasons and though he is not in it, he made them all. And all the things he made he did for a purpose for he is a producer with intent.

He made you; he made them, and made all things for a reason. the question then is, what is that reason? this is the question many people seek answers to but not many people find. so today we have 2 types of people- those who know what purpose is about but not what it is (purpose seekers), and those who know what it is and are living it (purpose doers). the difference between them is questions they seek answers to.

A lot of people chase after purpose all their days when those days ought to be spent living that purpose.

But you won’t be a part of that crowd anymore because now you know what purpose is. you know that purpose is a question of:

What are the things that I have at hand?

What is the best use of these things?

How can I profit with them and how can they profit other people?

What is the best use of my time NOW?

The answers to these questions are what you should find out. Find them out and let them be your daily guide.Let them decide what you pursue and how you spend your time. Its time you quit the race of people who are searching endlessly for the reason for their existence…people who in the quest to find a life for themselves have stopped living the life they have only to merely exist. Purpose isn’t something you merely ought to know, its something you should be constantly aware of; it is not something that will happen, but something that is happening.

I’m challenging you to live life, unleash potentials, and make impact every day, anywhere and in anyway. Each day has a purpose it ought to fulfil. If you can help each day of your life find its purpose…..then you would have fulfilled the purpose of your life.

It’s a funny world we are living in. Most of us will laugh at a kid chasing his shadow without recognizing that as grown-ups we pretty much do the same. Let me paint a scenario of how most of us live our lives using a fictional classroom. Its worthy to note that although this exact case may be a pure product of my imagination, it is however the true life scenario of most classrooms around the world.
My story is about Taye. He is a young bright kid but he is somehow dis-satisfied with his life and is always trying his best and doing all he can to be like david his class mate. David is a cool boy, but he believes sam is ‘cooler’ and so he is trying to be like sam. Sam hasn’t been having the best grades in school and his parents are not too pleased with him. In fact, just the other day his mom compared him with his classmate Biodun who happens to live 2 blocks away. Ever since then, it has been Sam’s life goal to be like biodun. Biodun on the other hand is not the smartest in the class. Though his grades have been high, they are still nothing compared to Mofe’s grades. Mofe is the class leader. He always wins the prize but seems to be nothing more after that. He craves to be more sociable and so he is trying hard as well to be like Taye who in Mofe’s opinion seems to have a good balance of a social life while doing well on his academics.
Well, most people would probably not get the gist of the story here but if you followed the story well to the end without getting lost with the names and all, you’d notice that we began this story with taye and ended the story with that same taye. The point here is that Taye, the dis-satisfied boy who was trying to be like somebody else was all along only trying to be himself because down the line those he was trying to be like were all trying indirectly or directly to be like him. The disastifaction he felt indicates that he wass failing terribly at it. He was chasing his own shadow!
Truth is God made everyone of us as originals but many people die trying to be fakes; who we are not. The easiest thing to be in the world should be ourselves but ironically it is the singular thing many people fail at. The problem with trying to be what we are not is that we do a really poor job at it. And the problem with trying to be ourselves( by looking at our shadow) is that we end up being someone else. The best we can be in being someone else is second best.
One thing I’m absolutely sure you can do better than everyone else in the world and everyone that has ever lived is being yourself. And we should not struggle to do it. Once it becomes a struggle, then you’ve probably gone off course. What I’m trying to get across is- just be yourself. Don’t try to be yourself; just be it. Its the best thing you could be. At the peak of maslov’s theory of human need is self actualization. Its everyone’s basic goal. However, Foundational to that is self discovery and self expression( being one’s self and nt someone else). Without these, self actualization is totally imposible. Your life is a gift from God. Accept it, embrace it and treat it as such. Succeed!
Soaga Afolabi Olusegun